jthebird1977

crazykidtexan

I have this camera. I just got it a few months ago. It replaced the D60 I had.

Good camera and has been used to take some great pictures around town. I got it to shoot video, and that can be a problem. If you are just a casual shooter, then okay. Pics and the kids running around would be cool.

If you want to shoot stuff like short films and stuff, well this camera doesn't have true manual control over the video settings. That is a little upsetting and can be a bit of a hassle to get around.

Here is a link to some video I shot at the SanAn Zoo at 24p with a 35mm Lens (which is an amazing lens for $200). Good stuff, but not having manual control over video may stop some people from getting it.

belowi

Nerdiphied

Great camera. I got one on Amazon for ~$600 back in February. For this price, even a refurb, well worth the money if you're, like me, a camera enthusiast but not quite ready to make a big investment into a professional-grade DSLR (upwards of thousands).

devnbave

Got this same kit back in January. It's my first DSLR, so I can't compare it to others from experience, but I chose carefully, knowing about the limitations on video, and I'm really happy with it. Paid $500 for a refurb, so this looks like a pretty sweet deal. The side-hinged swivel screen is a huge plus.

UncleFundip

Bought one of these as my first DSLR back in September as a birthday present to myself. I haven't had any issues at all, and once I upgraded to a Tamron 17-50, I was set. The kit lens is a solid starters lens though.

Works great in low light, and once adding the cheapest external flash, made taking photos at shows come out way better.

Almost all the pictures below were taken with this camera and mostly the Tamron (and of punk rock bands). Anything before November was the 18-55 lens included with the sale:
Anthony's Cleverly Titled Photos

NOTE: I'm a very casual photographer, so my opinions and ratings come from a guy that shoots maybe once a week.

Double Note: I have only used this for video a handful of times, and while the result is quality, it's not the best I've seen.

spikedknight

For what it's worth, I too say, great camera.
I bought mine in September of 2011, (the kit w/ the 18-55 & 55-300 lenses), I've not been gentle with it, and it's still performing great.
My only notes is off brand SD cards act wonky, but if you use the recommended variety per the manuals, no issues.
I do not shoot video, so I can not attest to that.
My grandma's classic lenses fit right up, but yes, no focus motor so it's 100% manual, which is fun to keep me on my toes for skills.

But I agree, pick up an extended warranty, it's just safe for our gadgets, new or refurb.

I've been following pricing on this model as well as the D90 and D7000 since I can't afford the newest bleeding edge equipment and this price WITH the kit lens is great. Even low prices for used items on eBay w/o lens is in this same price range!!

This included lens won't disappoint. Just be sure to get a UV or other filter and screw it on to protect the glass and keep dust out. Also be gentle if removing the lens and put on the end cap to protect the plastic mount which is common to many of the newer cost effective Nikon lenses.

Hint: Always use the camera to format your memory cards. It should format in FAT-32 and you should be OK.

russwjohns

UncleFundip wrote:Bought one of these as my first DSLR back in September as a birthday present to myself. I haven't had any issues at all, and once I upgraded to a Tamron 17-50, I was set. The kit lens is a solid starters lens though.

How about a bit more info on that lens "upgrade". How fast is the glass - ie what is the usable f-stop range at the wide and tele ranges? And is it cost effective for Wooters? Thanks for any info.

btw... you got some nice shots. I liked the colors in the Pelican shot, especially the rusty corroded fence post. Also the b&w mode pics.

OT: Also am wondering where the SlideBar is located in FLT? Haven't been out doing clubs in a long time. Didn't know the Whiskey was still in business. Use to go to Madam Wong's in LA and the infamous Cuckoo's Nest in CMS in the day.

Number019

I have had this camera since June 2012. I love it. I have had no problems and it does all I ask of it perfectly. In Dec I bought a D600. I found that I was using my D600 FX lenses on the 5100 because of the 1.5x crop factor combo worked awesome with nature and landscape photography. I am glad I bought the D5100. I have some photos in public folders on my Facebook page facebook.com/RichardLemmon All but the Wine photos and Haystack Rock Photos were with the D5100.

UncleFundip

russwjohns wrote:How about a bit more info on that lens "upgrade". How fast is the glass - ie what is the usable f-stop range at the wide and tele ranges? And is it cost effective for Wooters? Thanks for any info.

The lens is F 2.8 constant, so you can keep it wide open throughout the full range of the zoom. The 72 mm wide lens provides great light response, especially in low light (I shoot a lot of concerts in dark and dingy bars, so this was one of the things that drew me to it).

The focus ring is smooth, but with a little bit of resistance, making manual focusing easy, but accurate. Minimum focus distance is under a foot, making it great for macro shots, and the bokeh is nice and smooth.

The vibration control works great for photos, but is a little noisy for videos, so it's a toss up there.

It's a third party lens, so I think I paid $500 for it from a local shop. The Nikon equivalent is in the $800 dollar range. I know it's a hefty sum compared to the body, but it makes a mid level body feel and act like a much more expensive one.

Once again, I just do this for fun (I usually wind up taking photos of the other bands after we're done playing), so my assessments could be way off point. All I know is I love using this camera and the lens. Let me know if you have any other questions.

UncleFundip

russwjohns wrote:OT: Also am wondering where the SlideBar is located in FLT? Haven't been out doing clubs in a long time. Didn't know the Whiskey was still in business. Use to go to Madam Wong's in LA and the infamous Cuckoo's Nest in CMS in the day.

Thanks for the compliments. Just love doing it.

Slidebar is in Downtown Fullerton on Commonwealth. It's owned by the Guitarist from the band Lit. They claim to be a "rock and roll" bar, but like all bars, they've given into the DJ/Dance scene at their outside bar. That being said, they throw some of the best rock shows in Southern California back in their live music room. Shows are always free, and they pull in most medium sized touring bands. They are single handedly hurting House of Blues in Anaheim, cause everyone would rather play Slidebar. They also have great food too. If you can get past the college kids and hipsters, it's a fun place.

Whiskey is still in business, but it looks like they haven't invested any money there in a long long time. Sadly, they don't attract too many big bands any more, just local bands they sucker into selling tickets to play.

EDIT: The Whisky photos were half Tamron, half 35mm prime. I actually had space to use the 35mm, so I took advantage of it.

russwjohns

Slidebar is in Downtown Fullerton on Commonwealth. It's owned by the Guitarist from the band Lit.... they throw some of the best rock shows in Southern California back in their live music room. Shows are always free, and they pull in most medium sized touring bands.
EDIT: The Whisky photos were half Tamron, half 35mm prime. I actually had space to use the 35mm, so I took advantage of it.

Thanks for the info and link to the f/2.8 Tamron lens in the post above this post. Yes, fast glass is expensive. Ken Rockwell suggests bargain kits and use rest of $ budgeted for cameras to buy fast glass.

Also thanks for the info relating to the local club scene in OC. I'll past also that info to interested parties.

lorenzodemedici

The D5100 is an excellent camera. It will produce outstanding images, has enough automatic features for a beginner, and enough advanced features for a serious hobbyist. I would be a little concerned about the "refurbished" part. My Nikon was serviced at one of two official Nikon Service Centers in the US (Melville, NY) and they did not do a very good job.

radi0j0hn

The lens is F 2.8 constant, so you can keep it wide open throughout the full range of the zoom. The 72 mm wide lens provides great light response, especially in low light (I shoot a lot of concerts in dark and dingy bars, so this was one of the things that drew me to it).

The focus ring is smooth, but with a little bit of resistance, making manual focusing easy, but accurate. Minimum focus distance is under a foot, making it great for macro shots, and the bokeh is nice and smooth.

The vibration control works great for photos, but is a little noisy for videos, so it's a toss up there.

It's a third party lens, so I think I paid $500 for it from a local shop. The Nikon equivalent is in the $800 dollar range. I know it's a hefty sum compared to the body, but it makes a mid level body feel and act like a much more expensive one.

Once again, I just do this for fun (I usually wind up taking photos of the other bands after we're done playing), so my assessments could be way off point. All I know is I love using this camera and the lens. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Good advice. The "kit" lens spends most of it's life at a maximum of F/5.6, which is not a large enough aperture for low-light shooting of action in places like gymnasiums. The resulting shutter speed is simply too slow.

I've taught so many moms and dads how have tried to get action-stopping shots of their little darlings playing basketball with these slower lenses and, in most cases, they get both camera and subject movement (usually described as "blurry" by the uninformed in negative reviews!).

acraigl

Purchased this camera about a year ago for my wife as a starter DLSR. Its a very good camera with lots of options to grow into. Highly suggest getting an alternate lens with more range (I got the Nikon 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR AF-S DX).

Keep in mind that as a lower-end camera, this body will not control the lens, hence the need for a motorized lens like the one above.

All this said she never takes it off 'auto', so I own the most expensive point-and-shoot ever. Sigh.

dunc0029

I literally just got this camera yesterday, for the exact same price (and saved a tiny bit on shipping)! Can't say much about it yet as I only tried a few test shots to make sure it worked, but I'm excited about it.

I had an email from Amazon and I thought, "Oh no!", but I was happy to see it wasn't a better deal than what I just paid.

As someone who did a lot of research on pricing, this is a great price. I was only able to get the same price using a $30 off code from another retailer.

DigMe

This is a great camera for an amateur who doesn't need a few advanced features that it doesn't have such as commander mode and high-speed sync (the ability for the flash to sync above 1/200 shutter speed). Those are two things that I use quite often that would keep me from using this camera in my photography business but otherwise it is an awesome camera that can produce spectacular images. I own the D5000 that I have used as a personal camera when I need something smaller for travel, etc..

If you buy this camera I also suggest looking into buying the Nikon 35mm f/1.8G DX lens. It will really open up your ability to shoot in low-light and it's a great bang-for-buck walkaround lens.

ssih

You shouldn't be. I never buy new when I can buy refurb these days. I'm going to pull the trigger on this deal, as my D50 is getting long in the tooth. I bought it refurbed seven years ago, and after tens of thousands of photos under occasionally abusive conditions, it works as well as the day I got it.

ritb

This is a great camera, I have its upgrade d5200 which is 24mp and allows manual focussing during video. But after buying camera, u'll be willing to click different kinds of photos and trust me within a few days u'll be wanting to buy a new lens. So, while buying the lenses u'll realise that cheaper lenses won't autofocus with d5100 or d5200, because these cameras don't have focus motors built into them, therefore, u need to buy the lenses with built-in focus motors. Those are not cheap. Thats why I would recommend the first time buyer to go for canon instead of nikon. If u are committed to buy nikon then buy d7000/d7100 or d90 etc. Do not trust snapsort for comparison. Because I have seen much sharper pics from 550d than my d5200. It is the lens which makes the difference. Most DSLR can produce great images if the photographer is good. Good Luck.

kenbuzz

I have the previous model, the Nikon D3100, which I also purchased as a kit that included the same 18-55mm AF VR lens as this offer. It was a steal then for $529, considering how flexible and powerful the camera is for a neophyte like myself. I've taken fantastic shots and was even hired by a band to be their photographer during a recent tour of Ireland using my D3100.

The D5100 retains all of the features of the D3100, but has higher resolution (16.1 MP vs 14.2 MP), shoots faster (4 fps vs 3 fps), has an external mic jack and a flip-out screen, and better maximum light sensitivity (6400 ISO vs 3200 ISO, 1 f-stop better). Plus longer batter life (660 shots/charge vs 550). This is not only an amazing camera, but it's at a steal of a price.

If you've thought about getting a real DSLR without stepping up to the thousands of dollars you'd need to spend to get professional-grade gear, this is the time, and this is the camera.

This DSLR also has native support for EyeFi SD cards. Might want to get one of those.

In the near future, you might find yourself wanting a zoom lens. I have the Nikkor 55-200mm VF AF-S lens, which can be had for $150 (Amazon). The 55-300mm VR AF-S gives significantly greater zoom capability, but is quite more expensive ($400). Both of them compliment the 18-55mm kit lens nicely, you can't go wrong with either.

billthegunowner

This is a Phenomenal camera for the money. You will not regret buying it. My friend has the same camera. I've purchased two refurb TVs from Woot, with no problems whatsoever, so don't be worried about buying a refurb. Most likely you won't be able to tell it from new.

irishintx

I bought this camera in August 12 along with a 18-270 lens for a trip to Alaska. I was blown away by the photos. This is a high end entry level DSLR. I was told it was the easiest to learn about DSLR cameras. You will not be disappointed. Also, i love having the articulating view screen, allows me the get in shots that i would have missed out on.

chrissytine7

I got this camera in Feb, and after many years of point and shoot, this is my first DSLR. I'm still learning, but I have to say this is an amazing camera. It takes beautiful pictures and is not difficult to learn on. I would highly recommend.

MikeRodman

I've had this camera for about a year and a half. It takes great pictures, and is easy to use. It creates images in the JPEG and NEF formats (NEF is a Nikon format very similar to RAW). I do shy away from using the "auto" setting. To me, the images come out slightly out of focus and have to be sharpened with included software. This in turn causes a slightly "grainy" look. Also, the 18-55 lens is deficient on both ends of the spectrum. You can't take good close-ups (although you can cheat by taking a high quality image and cropping) and there isn't enough zoom to go beyond 100' or so.

ScottRiqui

I didn't know what he was talking about either, but if you look at only the 1-star reviews on Amazon, it appears that some owners are having a problem with the camera's shutter that results in completely-black images, regardless of camera settings.

With that being said, I have no idea how prevalent the problem really is, and the average of all the Amazon reviews looks to be 4.5 stars or higher. Based on my experience with my Nikon D50 and D7000, I'd have no problems recommending the D5100.

bitserve

I just got this camera in April for my birthday from my wife. My wife paid about this for just the body, although it was brand new. Since I wouldn't recommend this lens, I would just pay a little more and get the body brand new.

The camera has some nice features that weren't available in my previous DSLR. It has an LCD that can be angled. If you're using autoexposure, you might find it annoying putting the viewfinder cover in whenever you use the LCD, though. It has the ability to take tiny sized JPGs along side the RAW image. My previous camera did JPG+RAW, but the JPG would be the same number of pixels. Finally, this camera is almost twice the megapixels of my previous camera, and produces less grainy images in poor light.

There are some things that I hate about the camera compared to my previous. There aren't two knobs in manual mode for aperture and shutter speed. Instead, the two functions share the same knob and one has to hold down a button for aperture. There isn't a button for quickly changing between auto focus and manual focus. Instead, you have to go into the menu. The one auto scene mode that I might actually use is a backlit subject one, but it doesn't have a mode for this. A lot of modes and menus require pushing the shutter release button half way down to exit. The autofocus is kind of dumb, and could use some face detection. Also, the autofocus assist beam is oddly placed and only lights up the right side of any subject.

jeramypappas

I'm a professional videographer and dabbled in wedding photography in college. Didn't own my own DSLR (shot SLR) and was looking for something a bit more than entry level that could do what I wanted. Did a lot of research and decided on this camera.

Bought this exact camera a few months ago and paid just north of $500 for it.

I love it. It's passable with the kit lens but if you want something really special, go grab a >$150 50mm lens.

clungstrum

I'm torn right now as I've been keeping an eye out for a deal on the D3100 and now this deal pops up. I also found a deal at BuyDig.com for the D3100 at $496.95 + F/S, and includes two lenses so I'm not sure which to go with. Any recommendations from those that have much more experience as this will be my first DSLR. I'm thinking get the better camera here and then if I decide I need another lens later I can purchase then.

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